Tag: Louisiana education

LA May Receive Millions in Education Grants

The Louisiana Board will take to the polls soon to choose whether to award more than $10 million in education grants to go towards 67 school systems across the state specifically to improve the reading and writing skills of struggling students.

The main focus of this funding is “to advance the pre-literacy, reading and writing skills of disadvantaged youth, birth through grade 12, including English learners and students with disabilities.” There were only 11 states in the US to be chosen to receive this funding and Louisiana was one of them.

According to State Superintendent John White, “Research shows the early grades are vital for later school success. The key skills students develop one year must be built upon and reinforced the next.  As we enter into the second year of this grant, we must focus our attention on ensuring our children have access to a high-quality continuum of learning that could make a difference in positive, long term achievement outcomes.”

In order to fulfill the grant requirements, if awarded each of the 67 school systems implement the following 4 policies:

  • Extend CLASS, a nationally regarded system of measures used in Louisiana’s early childhood accountability system to evaluate teacher-student interactions, into Kindergarten classrooms;
  • Collaborate with experts to review students’ writing samples to gauge their knowledge of language and conventions in grade 1;
  • Adopt classroom observation tools to measure teachers’ use of standards-aligned materials that impact student learning experiences in grades 1 and 2; and
  • Implement a new skills check-up at the end of grade 2 to provide insight on students’ mastery of literacy and numeracy.

For more details on educational grant funding in Louisiana, click here.

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High School Students Earning College Credits Up 12%

The number of public high school students earning college credits rose 12 percent over last year, the state Department of Education announced Thursday.  The increase is nearly 167 percent since 2012. The credit is called Advanced Placement (AP) and schools offer AP classes in several different subjects such as Literature, History and Psychology. Advanced Placement allows students to earn credits in 38 subjects. They do so by taking a rigorous class in high school and then a national exam. Scores from range from 1 to 5. A score of at least 3 means students can earn credit at any college in Louisiana and many nationwide. The state launched a push in 2011 to increase the number of students earning AP credit. Those who do so boost their chances for getting a state scholarship that pays for most college tuition, called the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students. Schools achieving high levels of AP courses and tests get a boost in annual rankings.

Louisiana has long ranked among the lowest in the nation for students who qualify and in 2017 it finished next to last with a total of 8.5 percent of high school students got AP credit. The national average was 22.8 percent. Massachusetts was the top ranker in the nation for the second consecutive year at 32.1 percent. A total of 7,330 students in Louisiana earned the credit this year compared to 6,519 last year. Among the school districts showing notable gains was West Feliciana, where students earning qualifying scores rose 15 percent over last year. Scores for black students rose nearly 13 percent, to 884 students, including 156 more in the East Baton Rouge Parish School District. Dutchtown High School in Ascension Parish led the state in one-year growth 328 students, up 69 percent and up 57 percent for the district. Students can also get  costs of the test reimbursed by the state.

Not only are these courses helping students earn college credits but they are also saving them money.  A report says students and families save $310 for each college credit earned in high school but once adding in the cost of books and other course-related fees, that amount could be significantly more.  Not to mention student loan interest that student won’t be paying later, essentially saving them from large amount of debt. Check out this site for more information on Advanced Placement courses.

Fletcher Tech Students Land Jobs

All 13 of Fletcher Tech Community College’s graduates in the cardiopulmonary program have landed jobs before they even officially finished the program.  They have finished their courses at this point but still have a pinning ceremony this week to commemorate the completion of the program and transition to the workforce.  The 2 year program has been located at Fletcher since 2010 and is very fast paced.  It prepares students to treat patients of every age that have been diagnosed with severe and chronic cardiopulmonary conditions.  These patients may have underdeveloped lungs and/or lung disease. Students learn to help patients on mechanical ventilation with oxygenation, ventilation and airway management to maintain life support.

Chancellor Kristine Strickland said, “A true testament to the achievements of these students and the quality of the program at Fletcher is indicated by the 100 percent placement rate of our students.  Fletcher recognizes that our work is aligned with the needs of our business and industry partners and we are pleased that so many organizations have recognized the quality of our graduates and offered them positions.  We wish our students the best of luck as they begin their new careers in healthcare.”  For more on this story, click here.

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Number of Louisiana Graduates Entering College Each Fall Increases

The Louisiana Department of Education has recently announced that the number of graduates entering college between college each fall has increased 15 percent between 2012 and 2017. As stated on the website, “The results announced today follow the release of the statewide graduation results for the Class of 2017.

Those results showed a jump in the overall graduation rate, as well as in the rate at which students earn early-college credit or state-approved industry-valued career credentials, the number of graduates qualifying for the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students scholarship, and the number of seniors completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.”

For more information on this exciting news for Louisiana, please click here.

Struggling Louisiana High Schools Meet with Experts on Improvements

According to the Louisiana Department of Education, who is partnering with John Hopkins University, announced “the launch of the Louisiana High School Redesign Cohort, a network of 31 high schools across the state that will work together to rethink the core components of their high school design.”

“The redesign cohort, which involves alternative, charter and traditional public schools from both urban and rural school systems, will provide an opportunity for select high schools to collaborate with their peers and national experts on how to reimagine both school structure and services to boost positive student outcomes and prepare graduates for college and career.”

Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education will help guide the cohort. The School, through its Everyone Graduates Center and Talent Development Secondary initiative, has spent 22 years working with schools across the nation to focus their redesign plans on examining and rebuilding four key structures. Those structures, which are supported by extensive research, include:

Instructional quality. Schools must use the highest quality curricula available, and teachers must be trained on the implementation of this curricula. In addition, high schools need to develop the appropriate remediation structures to support students who are academically behind.

Postsecondary pathways. Schools must provide students with various avenues toward graduation, including Jump Start pathways, dual enrollment and IB, AP and/or CLEP offerings, in order to support the diverse needs of students.

Student supports. Students must have access to academic counseling that helps them plot their path to graduation and beyond. Students need support with college applications, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, job interviews and internship opportunities.

Organizing adults to maximize impact. Adults must be organized in a way that allows for them to have responsibility for a common set of students and must have time to collaborate and plan for the needs of those students.

For more information on this partnership and to read the full article, click here.

Louisiana Teachers to Receive Classroom Instruction Training

As stated on the Louisiana Department of Education website on April 24th, 2018, “more than 700 teachers across the state have been selected to serve as Content Leaders and provide high-quality, content-rich and curriculum-specific professional development to new and current teachers in their school systems. The selected teachers will participate in special training during the 2018-2019 school year that prepares them for this responsibility and culminates in a professional distinction, as well as career advancement opportunities.”

The training will begin in summer 2018 and continue through the 2018-2019 school year. The training will include nine in-person sessions–half of which will occur during the summer months to reduce time spent outside the classroom–and will be held in various locations across Louisiana. Participants will receive:

A deeper knowledge of English Language Arts (ELA) or math content and how to teach it;

  • The knowledge and skills they need to effectively use and help others use the ELA Guidebooks 2.0, a nationally recognized curriculumcreated for Louisiana teachers by Louisiana teachers, or a top-tier mathematics curriculum;
  • The knowledge of adult learning theory, and the skills and resources to facilitate meaningful, productive learning experiences for fellow educators; and
  • Access to 36 additional hours of turnkey training sessions outside of the program.

For more information on the training the teachers will receive, click here.